1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure generally relates to a printer system, and more particularly to a printer network system, a server device, and a computer-readable recording medium, which are adapted to select one of output destinations in a network according to specific output conditions in response to a print job requested from a client terminal and distribute the print job to the selected output destination to perform the printing.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, with the spread of networking technology, plural image forming devices, such as MFP (multi-function peripherals) and laser printers, are connected to a network in office environments of government and municipal offices, companies, universities, etc., and, in many cases, use of the image forming devices from various remote locations in the network is possible.
In a case of a final printout image which has a low security level or does not contain personal or confidential information, a serious problem may not arise even if a user erroneously designates a wrong output destination for a print job in selecting one of the image forming devices in the office environment where use of the image forming devices from various remote locations in the network is possible, and the output image is printed at the wrong output destination.
However, in a case of a final printout image containing personal or confidential information, erroneous designation of an output destination may cause a serious problem, such as a leak of the personal or confidential information, to arise if the document image is printed at a wrong output destination in the environment. Hence, there is a request for selecting an output destination from among the image forming devices in the environment where use of the image forming devices is possible and for outputting a document image at the correct location in the network.
Besides the viewpoint of the security level of the final printout, there is also a request for selecting an output destination from among the image forming devices in the environment. If a fixed image forming device is selected as the output destination in accordance with a specific user or a specific user group or in accordance with a characteristic of a print job, the efficiency of business operations may be increased, and the printed matter being handled in the environment may be easily managed, which will improve the management of security of the printed matter.
Various kinds of technology for determining an output destination of printed matter are known. For example, the product information “Change_Ro” of Ricoh Company, accessed on Jul. 17, 2009 (URL: http://www.ricoh.co.jp/opp/priport/option/control/change_ro/), discloses a software module which automatically switches an optimal output device among output devices in the Windows (registered trademark) environment in accordance with the number of sheets of a final printout image and distributes the document image to the optimal output device.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2003-140867 discloses a network server which is connected to a network and arranged to request status information of a designated output device and receives the status information from the designated output device. When it is detected from the received information that the designated output device is in a status that a print error takes place or the printing cannot be performed immediately, the network server transmits the status information of the designated output device and status information of another output device to an information processing device.
Japanese Patent No. 3729229 discloses a client device which causes an alternative printer to be used to perform the printing of an output document image when the printing of the document image by the designated printer is impossible.
However, the printer network system according to the related art is directed to changing the output destination to another output device when the designated output device does not continuously perform the printing. The printer network system according to the related art is not aimed at preventing leaking of the confidential or personal information contained in the output document image.
Moreover, the printer network system according to the related art is not adequate for being applied to a server/client environment (point and print environment) in which a document image is printed by connecting a client terminal to a printer server.
In a case in which the selection of an output destination and the distribution of a print job to the determined output destination are applied to the server/client environment, if a print error, such as a paper jam, occurs at the determined output destination where the print job is distributed, the printer server can detect the occurrence of the print error. However, there is a problem that it is difficult for the client terminal (from which the user has actually requested the print job) to detect appropriately the print error occurring in the image forming device or an error status of the image forming device.
If the print error is not notified to the user in an appropriate manner, the user is uncertain as to whether the output document image has been printed at another output destination or whether the output document image has not been printed due to an error of the requested print job. This may cause a serious problem when a document image containing confidential information is dealt with.